The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group works to help people whose rights have been violated and investigates cases involving such abuse, as well as assessing the overall human rights situation in Ukraine. The Group also seeks to develop awareness of human rights issues through public events and its various publications

The Head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration and Head of the Kharkiv regional branch of the Party of the Regions, Mykhailo Dobkin says that the Party of Regions “has a maximum interest in ensuring that there is no hint of pressure on journalists”.

He was speaking on Monday about the disappearance of the Chief Editor of the newspaper Novy Styl [New Style] Vasyl Klymentyev. He said that “intuition” told him that Mr Klymentyev would soon be found alive and well.

He added that “the start of any electoral campaign in our country very strongly encourages various dark forces which try to use any unlawful means of extracting such kind of benefit whether it be financial or political from the electoral process.” He claimed that he was not talking specifically of the missing journalist, and says that it would be good if people reacted like that to other disappearances. “People simply disappear sometimes, there are such statistics.”

He says that “the removal of V. Klymentyev, given a correct approach, will make a repetition of such situations impossible”.

“After all you know as well as I do what could be the reason behind this”.

As reported here, Vasyl Klimentyev, Chief Editor of the newspaper “New Style”, disappeared on 11 August. His colleagues are convinced that this was linked with his professional activities.

After wide and in part international attention, the authorities began reacting, and recently the Minister of Internal Affairs, Vasyl Mohylyov stated that the journalist’s disappearance was to be investigated by the MIA Central Investigation Department.

“We suspect that members of the law enforcement agencies, both current employees and those dismissed, could be implicated. And therefore, so that there is no leak of information, the case is being taken over by the central apparatus”, Mohylyov said.

He noted that a murder investigation had been initiated, and that there were enough grounds for assuming that Klymentyev was dead.